1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of candles. More particularly, it relates to mechanisms for advancing and retracting the wick of an oil candle, of the type where combustible oil in a receptacle is drawn by surface tension forces up the wick and burned above a metal candle cap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Burning oily substances for heat and light has been around for centuries. Bees wax and animal tallow have been formed into candles and burned through a wick fixedly positioned therein; another type of candle, the oil candle or oil lamp, with its moveable wick, has been part of history for almost as long. It was the oil lamp that held the genie in the story of Aladdin of The Arabian Nights, a collection of ancient tales from the Mideast.
In the use of oil lamps and oil candles (they appear to be synonymous) it is important to control the position of the wick. Too short a wick does not permit sufficient area for burning the oil and the light is too dim. Too long a wick permits too much an area and the flame is overly large and can cause the flame to generate smoke. While there may be no such thing as too much light, too large a flame creates a safety hazard and could result in disaster.
Wax and tallow candles burn at a rather controlled rate, determined by the length of the wick fixedly positioned in the combustible material. On the other hand, oil burning candles and lamps are desired for the controllable light they emit; this coming from the control of the length of the wick by mechanical means.
The simplest form of wick control is by the use of one's fingers; i.e., one merely pulls the wick up from the wick bore in the top or side of the candle. If too much wick is pulled up the excess is either pushed back down or cut off. While this may be acceptable practice where there is no flame, it becomes a fairly unsafe practice if the wick is already on fire. Further, trying to grasp enough of a burned-down wick to pull up a length of it often is an exasperating undertaking resulting in broken finger nails and shortened tempers.
The prior art has dealt with this problem by fashioning a wheel or a pair of rollers to engage the wick and providing a stem extending therefrom to twist from outside the candle. Twisting the stem either rotates .the wheel which bears against one side of the wick or rotates the rollers to push the wick upward or pull it downward. These mechanisms have a common shortcoming in that only one side or at most two sides of the wick are contacted. An oily soaked wick is a slippery item and often slips by the wheel or through the rollers. In addition, the wick is quite limp and often develops kinks and knots that jam in these movement mechanisms. It appears these problems are exacerbated by the fact that the prior art mechanisms have a fairly narrow area of contact with the wick. Further, these control mechanisms are often positioned in the line of sight of the wick burn area. Exposure of these controls to the bright flame causes .them to become coated with soot often causing jamming and/or drawing the temper from the metal so that the mechanism becomes weak and easily broken.